I love Robert Deniro and I've been watching some old DVDs (which apparently makes you old now?) of some of his movies recently, so when a friend came over and she was naming movies we both had never seen it and decided to watch it.
It was not what I was expecting at all. Based on popular culture like references in TV shows and movies or just seeing people dressed like Travis Bickle on Halloween or cosplay or something, I had a very different idea going into it.
I was a little shocked at the depth of characters, especially compared to some of his more recent stuff like The Departed (which I love).
I think the character of Travis Bickle is one of the best movie characters of all time, and I also include the movie to definitely be one of the best movies I've ever seen.
But this thread isn't about me jerking this movie off for no reason. I'm very interested in other peoples thoughts, both good and bad. "This movie sucks" or "This movie rocks" are equally useless if that's all you have to add.
I'd love to know people's thoughts on Travis, primarily whether or not you consider him a villain.
It was creepy the way that he silently killed those guys (after talking gibberish to Sport, which I also thought was brilliant)The part at the end when he's battered up, bleeding out the neck, kinda limping with one pretty much useless arm, and then he puts the gun to his head and with almost no hesitation he pulled the trigger. That was powerful. But not in a positive way. In a 'sick to your stomach' way.
I can't recall any other movie that did such a good job building the villain, the bad guy (he justified killing Sport by insisting he was a killer with 0 proof) to be so human, and so likable leading up to the act.
I loved that the people thought he was a hero. What he did was a gruesome triple homicide.
Did Sport and the others deserve to die for profiting off of what was essentially sexual slavery? Absolutely. But that's not for Travis to decide. He makes no attempt to ask the police for help.
I don't know if it was intentional, but I loved that it wasn't made out to be heroic, it was made out to be horrific. But I see him referenced positively in popular culture. He's not Hannibal Lector, he's Ted Bundy. He murders people due to hatred, not the belief he's doing the right thing. He's delusional.
I'm very interested to hear specifically from people who view him as a hero or even anti hero.
I'm gonna try The Godfather next b